Acquisitions · Pharmaceuticals (gene therapy)
Astellas to buy gene therapy company Audentes for about $3 billion
- Buyer
- Astellas Pharma (Tokyo)
- Target
- Audentes Therapeutics, San Francisco, California
- Value
- About $3B ($60 a share; about ¥320B)
- Status
- Agreed on December 2, 2019 (December 3 in Japan); completed in January 2020.
- Date
- 2019-12-02
Astellas Pharma agreed to buy Audentes Therapeutics, a San Francisco gene therapy company, for $60 a share in cash, about $3 billion in total. The price was 110% above Audentes' closing price on December 2. Audentes' lead program, AT132, was being developed for X-linked myotubular myopathy, a rare and life-threatening muscle disease.
Why it matters
The deal made gene therapy a central part of Astellas's research strategy. Astellas gained not only a drug candidate but also Audentes' own large-scale manufacturing.
What Astellas gains
Besides AT132, Astellas gains Audentes' platform for gene therapies delivered by adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, in-house large-scale manufacturing that meets drug production standards, and expertise in neuromuscular diseases. Astellas said it would add genetic regulation as a fifth main focus area of its research.
Deal terms
The offer was made through Asilomar Acquisition Corp., a subsidiary of Astellas US Holding, and both boards approved it unanimously. It was Astellas's second-largest acquisition, after its $3.8 billion purchase of OSI Pharmaceuticals in 2010. The deal was completed in January 2020.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
